For the fifth year, professional ice carver Rich Daly has returned to Sherwood House Vineyards for its annual ice carving event. Daly holds the world record for fastest ice carver and has also won over 200 competitions nationwide. (more…)

At first glance, Alex Rosanelli looks like any other young, put-together North Fork tourist. But Rosanelli, who recently launched the local wine label Hound’s Tree wines with his uncle Alfredo Apolloni, has deep roots on the East End. And the pair’s winemaking roots run even deeper.

Apolloni owns the eponymous Apolloni Vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where he is known for his pinot noir and Italian-style wines. A first-generation American whose family hails from the Arezzo region of Tuscany, he brought his winemaking skills with him to the U.S. in the 1970s.

His nephew Rosanelli, who grew up in Rye and spent summers in East Hampton, lives in Mattituck and Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Time spent at Apolloni’s West Coast vineyard helped cultivate his love of winemaking.(more…)

It’s the Danish word for cozy and for the Danes it’s a way of life. Now you can seek out your own hygge (pronounced HOO-gah) — a lifestyle that includes the pursuit of fuzzy socks, hot tea and good company — on the North Fork.

So while the NoFo winter might be bad for sunbathing and water sports, there are other ways of seeking bliss.

Sherwood House Vineyards in Jamesport hosted Rich Daly from Ice Melodies Inc. on Saturday. This is the fourth time Daly has visited the Jamesport tasting room to carve holiday-themed sculptures that guests can take photos with.

This year Daly carved a four-foot Olaf from Disney’s Frozen, Frosty the Snowman, an elf and an eskimo.

“It’s just a special time of year here at Sherwood house,” Kristen Hand, the general manager of the vineyard said. “The space lends itself to the holidays and Rich just enhances that for us.” (more…)

In what has become a Long Island Wine Country holiday tradition, ice carver Rich Daly will return to Jamesport’s Sherwood House Vineyards Saturday to create another frozen masterpiece.

Daly, who has been an ice carver for 15 years, is also a culinary arts teacher at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach. He learned the skill while studying at Johnson & Wales University and now runs his business, Ice Melodies, Inc.,which creates handcrafted ice sculpture for all occasions.

“It’s a nice way to get out of the freezer and interact with the community, so they see what we do,” he told us last year. (more…)

Kody Doodle, a Long Island labradoodle whose Instagram account has racked up more than 9,000 followers, and a quartet of his four-legged friends recently visited a number of North Fork vineyards for some doggie social media photo ops.

Mary Cantone and John Mazur with a vintage corn sheller circa 1920, behind a collection of work by regional artists. (Credit: Emily Greenberg)

When John Mazur wanted to integrate paintings into Material Objects, his art space and vintage store in Jamesport, North Fork newcomer Mary Cantone was an obvious choice for collaboration.

The space, located in the same building that houses Sherwood House Vineyards’ tasting room, has changed in the last two months. It is still home to repurposed and found objects, vintage items, reclaimed wood pieces and the like, but now, when you step into the store, dozens of paintings adorn the walls.

“We’ve always had some kind of art and craft in the space,” Mazur said. “But this is on a larger scale.”(more…)